[Victoria5C]

Hi Jimmy. Hope you don’t mind me messaging you but I wanted to provide an update. I ended up engaging with a building inspector to investigate where the leak was coming from. The inspector’s report was submitted to the body corporate and the property manager of the unit above in January.

Despite multiple attempts to get this fixed, no action has been taken, even though it is evident that the responsibility for the repairs lies with the unit above. I have explained to them that the ongoing damage has forced me to repair my bifold glass door as they no longer engage and has become a safety hazard that is interfering with my ability to work remotely, as water keeps entering my bedroom anytime it rains, which also doubles as my home office space.

Further to this, mould is continuing to spread and I can’t begin to think what’s actually happening inside of the wall.  The report said that the entire wall needs to be removed, as cosmetic repairs are no longer safe and must be addressed immediately. My question is whether I should escalate the matter to VCAT or consult with a lawyer.

Additionally, yesterday I noticed water and soil dripping down the walls in the shared store room, where we keep the bins. The subdivision plan indicates that the unit above’s courtyard is directly above the store room. I promptly contacted the body corporate and asked for an inspection.

However his response was ‘I understand this matter is serious one that needs to be addressed, as I have said in past an Owners Corporation can enter lots and carry out repairs, but only if they apply to VCAT and seek orders to do so. Not doing this would lead to all kinds of complications. As there is no common property involved, at this stage, my involvement is somewhat limited, without having orders from VCAT to allow us entry to private property to carry out private works (or investigations on private property)’.

I am a bit confused by his response. The storeroom is common property so isn’t this body corporate job to attend this? Is he also correct in saying that body corporate can’t interfere or force repairs unless I actually go to VCAT? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Victoria5C]

Thanks JimmyT, I’m a first time owner so I really have no idea what my rights are, I’ll try and look into getting legal advice.

[Victoria5C]

Hi Ausman and those that responded. I just updated the thread and was hoping you could provide advice. Does this sound a bit odd to you, that the property manager won’t provide documention of the water storm issues.

[Victoria5C]

The Strata Property manager denies that the wall in question is common property but liaised with the real-estate agent for the unit above to organise an investigation to be carried out via their trades so the cause could be identified. I complied with their request on 30th September and was told by my strata manger that he would reach out to me update me on the investigation. (I also found this is a bit wierd as to why the strata property manager is saying that the realestate agent for the unit above to organise trades. Even though there is a tenant in the above unit, shouldn’t it be strata organising this rather than the realestate agent?)

Strata Property Manager 30^th September:  ‘I will contact the agent of Lot XX on Monday and ask them to revisit the investigation via their trades and report’ their findings accordingly so that I can update you.

On the 27th November I followed up with my strata manager to see if there were any new findings from the investigation as It has been roughly two months and the  actual cause of the mould and damage remains, and waters seepage continues to return after heavy rain fall but was told that the investigation never took place. Please see below the Property Manager response:

‘Regarding the investigation from September, I have not been informed as to whether an investigation went ahead as the property manager of the relevant unit has stopped responding to my correspondence.

The damage to the affected areas have gotten worse, and I told my strata manager that it is essential that the source be identified as I’m starting to discover that this is more than just  can be multiple factors contributing to water entering my apartment such as the window flashings not being installed correctly, allowing water to find its way between the exposed outer crack and inner skin of the wall or but could be actually due to the storm water pipers not being fitted with flexible movement couplings causing expansion of the soil and structural distress to the apartment.  If the roof runs flat (which it does) and runs into a boxed gutter then it could be leaking. This could explain the new crack forming on my bedroom ceiling and my internal door hands and locks of my bifold glass sliding doors are no longer engaging and have condensation trapped between the glass.

I don’t feel like there have been adequate transparency which makes me wonder if it’s actually my responsibility to pay for the remediation.

In the  2021 AGM minutes one of the following matters of general business that were discussed was the stormwater issue and that is still hadn’t been rectified. As the minutes didn’t expand what the issue was, I asked my property manager to explain what this was about and explained that this could be the potential source of the leak,  his response was

‘As for the stormwater issue listed in the 2021 AGM minutes, my understanding is that it has been rectified already, as the 2021 AGM took place on 12/01/2021’.

When I asked him to enclose the report and what steps were taken to resolve the issue, he didn’t respond. I then went over the March 2022 AGM minutes which quotes;

‘Owners Corporation is awaiting the new Plan of Subdivision, this is not able to be completed until Mr X has the storm water issue addressed as noted in the previous years AGM Minutes’.

I’m not sure why my property manager said this was resolved last year when it is evident that it has not.

Further to this, the subdivision plan that I have in my contract of sales (2008 version)  has a modification table recording all addition changes to the plan. One of the affected parcels is to do with my lot, the unit above and common property areas. The time stamp of these amendments were made in 2013. If there is a new subdivision plan as stated in the March 2022 meeting notes, then how can the property manager be certain that this wall isn’t common property?

[Author]

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